How to relax
There are three main categories of relaxation.
- Being grounded in the moment
- Physical relaxation
- Using your imagination to relax
Being grounded in the moment
Being grounded in the moment is often called mindfulness. It’s bringing yourself into the here and now by paying attention to the moment you’re in. For example noticing what you can hear, see, smell, touch, taste.
When you think about it how often is what’s stressing you out actually happening right now? It’s often thoughts about the past or future which make us anxious. Worrying about work tomorrow or something that happened earlier in the day or last week. So bringing yourself back to the present can be very helpful.
Here’s one way you can bring yourself into the moment.
Physical relaxation
Techniques which involve physically relaxing your body. For example tensing and releasing muscles or having a massage.
When we’re stressed or anxious we often tense our bodies. Our bodies can even go into fight or flight mode, prepped for danger. When we relax our bodies we send signals to our brain that we don’t need to be alert or tense which allows our brain to also stand down and relax. Exercise can also help you relax by releasing tension from the body and increasing endorphins, the feel good hormones.
Here’s an example of a physical relaxation technique
Using your imagination to relax
Methods of relaxation which use your imagination include hypnosis, guided imagery and meditation.
Often what we’re stressed or anxious about is in our own heads. For example how we imagine people perceived something, thinking about what might happen in the future or playing over events from the past.
By using our imaginations positively we can change how we feel about things and stop the anxiety at its source.
Here’s an example of a relaxation technique which uses your imagination.
All three categories of relaxation overlap but these are the basic groupings. You might find one type of relaxation more appealing than the others. It’s good to try out all three and find what works for you. You could start by checking out the above videos from my YouTube Channel. Please remember to subscribe to my channel if you’d like to be informed when new content goes live.
